Who We Are
The Democracy Collaborative is a research and change-agent organization building a people-powered vision for a new, democratic economy run on shared prosperity and inclusion, not exploitation. We develop and advance bold policy frameworks, like community wealth building, to aid policy-makers, academics, researchers, and legislators in the United States and across the world working to realize a more just and equitable world for all.
Community Wealth Building
Community Wealth Building (CWB) is an economic development model that transforms local economies based on communities having direct ownership and control of their assets. It challenges the failing approaches that have been widely accepted in American economic development for too long, and addresses wealth inequality at its core.
Here at TDC, we believe that when practiced in a holistic and interconnected way, CWB can democratize our economy from the ground up to build the equitable and sustainable political-economic system we all need.
The Democratic Economy
With the planet at the brink, millions living in economic anxiety, and the radical right on the rise, the following argument invites us to dare to hope, there’s an urgent need to reverse the economic revolution of recent decades. The central task is to establish irreversible foundations in ideas and projects and viable policies such that a longer-term transformation of the political-economic system becomes an inevitable reality, flowing from core shared values and institutional principles.
We have worked extensively to map the DNA of the democratic economy thereby providing a roadmap for us, together, to accomplish this task.
The Next System
TNS is aimed at bold thinking and action to address the systemic challenges the U.S. faces now and in coming decades. Deep crises of economic inequality, racial injustice and climate change—to name but three—are upon us, and systemic problems require systemic solutions. Working with a broad group of researchers, theorists and activists, we are using the best research, understanding and strategic thinking, on the one hand, and on-the-ground organizing and development experience, on the other, to promote visions, models and pathways that point to a “next system” radically different in fundamental ways from the failed systems of the past and present and capable of delivering superior social, economic and ecological outcomes.
About Us
We’re doing the work of figuring out how to get from the world we live in today to the democratic economy that’s needed in order to take on the biggest challenges of our age.
